WYC 071 – Elite Hoops Basketball – Lee Miller talks Living by Numbers

Lee Miller is the National Director and Skill Development Trainer for Elite Hoops Basketball. 2015 marks Lee Miller’s 12th year as Director of Elite Hoops. Previously, Miller has Co-directed the University of Georgia’s basketball camps, worked at Duke University basketball camps and assisted with Jack Haley’s NBA Complete Player Camp in California. In 2004, he was amongst the best upcoming NBA talent while working at the 27th annual Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp in Las Vegas. Since 2009, Miller has trained over 1100 players, 83 of which have gone on to play at the Division I level. One of which was the 2011 AJC High School Player of the Year and current UVA Cavalier Malcolm Brogdon. Miller also worked extensively for 4 years with 2014 Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year, Isaiah Wilkins.

Quote

‘Success is the direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your very best’ – John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

Lee believes in letting the kids express interest before ‘forcing’ them into sports

With regards to travel sports: ‘What is too much?’ – Lee’s answer – if he or she has an off day, and they don’t want to go out and shoot in the driveway, then they are probably playing too many organized sports.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

Early on -‘I started teaching players what I was taught’ and did not take the time to study whether it was really the best way to teach

Teaching Skills

Set up the expectation that the players need to bring the excitement and passion for the game, and as a coach you will be teaching them the skills they need to achieve success

Spend 75-80% of your practice time on fundamentals – not X’s and O’s. Great question to ask yourself at the younger ages: ‘How many times per game do we score from one of our offensive sets?’ – If it’s rare -then quit spending so much time on it and focus instead on teaching the kids fundamentals.

Building confidence

Living by numbers – They have created 15 core drills that can be measured numerically. The focus is on improvement.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

Lee is a big believer in energy in the gym. This starts on Day 1.

The three T’s:

Talk

Touch

Tap

Every player is either a proton or an electron – they are either bringing positive energy or negative energy

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

Lee coached a kid who was on the bubble as to making his middle school – but he committed and stuck with it and worked hard – and went on his make his freshmen team

Memorable Game

When Lee was coaching in high school – he had a loaded team that lost in the Elite 8 of the state championships – one lesson learned was that they should have gotten some of their younger players more experience earlier in the season

Best Stolen Idea

Go to other teams/coaches’ practices! At every level.

Watch the way different coaches motivate different players in different ways.